How Often Should You Work Out?

From time to time, people ask me, “Why do you work out six times a week, and why should I do the same?” Fair question. But let me throw a question of my own out there: Why shouldn’t you?You’re creating a good habit. We all have bad habits. During this time of year, everyone and their mothers are busy making resolutions to change the bad habits they picked up the previous year. You should add exercising six days a week to your list. You start this good habit, and then soon it’ll become part of your lifestyle. Once that happens, you’ll feel guilty if you miss a workout. Why? Because it’ll be part of who you are now. A more health-conscious, self-aware you. A better you.I can hear you now saying, “But, Tony, I don’t really have to work out six times a week, right?” Well, you don’t have to do anything. It’s a free country. But before you put the weights back on the rack or roll up the yoga mat, let me ask you some questions first. Don’t you sleep every day? You eat and shower every day? You brush your teeth daily, right? So what happens if you don’t sleep for a few nights? What if you choose not to shower for a number of days? Skip a few meals? What happens isn’t pretty. You end up a smelly, ravenous zombie with halitosis. You feel terrible. You look like hell. But the moment you get some food in your stomach, the instant you step underneath that hot water, the second you wake up from a good night’s rest, the minute you extinguish that dragon breath, you feel revitalized and reenergized. Consistent exercise does the same for you and more. Much more.Inconsistent exercise is the fitness equivalent of driving across the country on surface streets. You’re bound to hit nothing but stop signs, streetlights, detours, construction — you name it. You spend a ton of time spinning your wheels, wondering why you’re not getting anywhere or seeing any noticeable results. You don’t get any momentum. You don’t get good mileage — only frustration with your lack of any decent progress. Hell, there’s not even anything good to listen to on the radio. This trip sucks. You wouldn’t drive from Los Angeles to New York only using residential streets and back roads. Jump on the freeway and drop the top. Get the wind in your hair. The six-days-a-week mentality and lifestyle will get you on the “open highway” to better fitness and results.There’s a well-known quote that applies to this topic. Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you’ll land among the stars. Don’t settle for the bare minimum or give the least effort you think you can get away with. If you’re going to do something, do it to the best of your ability. Most people aim to work out around three to four days a week. Well, that’s good, but it ain’t great. Let’s be frank. You know as well as I do what tends to happen to us.

So? What tends to happen that six days a week will fix? That's next...